Dorothée de Benkendorf

See also: Benckendorff

Dorothea ( Dorothée ) Christophorona of Benkendorf , countess then princess of Lieven is a Russian aristocrat, born with Rīga in 1785 and died with Paris on January 26th 1857.

Girl of the Russian general Benkendorf, Minister for the police force of the tsar Paul I {{er}}, it is the sister of:

Alexander von Benckendorff (1783 - 1844), military Russian;
Konstantin von Benkendorff (1785 - 1828), general and Russian diplomat.

She is named lady-in-waiting of the tsarina in 1799 and marries in 1800 a Russian diplomat, the lieutenant-general-count (created prince in 1834) Christophe de Lieven (1770-1839), whom she follows in her various diplomatic stations, initially in Berlin, of 1809 with 1811, then in London, of 1811 with 1834.

In London, she plays a political role and diplomatic major which is worth to him the nickname of “diplomatic Sibyl of Europe”. The principal political officials find themselves in his living room. Large, elegant, of an incomparable distinction, excellent musician, speaking four languages, it is famous for her brilliant conversation. She takes for lover the prince of Metternich, and receives Wellington, the duke of Orleans, Robert Peel or Lord Castlereagh.

When her husband is recalled in Russia in 1834, it settles in Paris, street of Rivoli, where it very holds a living room in sight. An unforgettable stay with Valençay, in June 1836, displeases extremely with the duchess of Dino, her rival in political influence. A little later it becomes the egery of Guizot.

With died of Talleyrand (1838), it rents a mezzanine in its hotel of the street Saint-Florentin to its new owner, the baron James de Rothschild. In his living room, one crosses Metternich, the countess of Boigne, and many politicians: Andre Dupin and his brother, the count Duchâtel, Charles de Rémusat, Victor Cousin, Paul de Noailles which it made enter to the Academy, Adolphe Thiers, the philosopher Jean Philibert Damiron, François-Auguste Mignet and some old revolutionists like Pierre-Louis Roederer, Dominique Joseph Garat, Joseph Lakanal without forgetting Augustin Thierry, Pauline Metternich and prince de Talleyrand, one as of his best friends, or Chateaubriand, which draws up of it, in his Mémoires of In addition to-Fall , a not very flattering portrait.

She briefly goes back to London at the time of the revolution of 1848, then returns to Paris. She settles in Brussels when Russia enters in war with the western powers, but returns to France where she dies in January 1857, in the part even where Talleyrand died out.

Its varied correspondence was collected and published on several occasions.

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